Can Obama defy history and win re-election in a bad economy?

WASHINGTON (AP) — History repeats itself, until it doesn't.

That musty saw is worth remembering as pundits speculate on whether the lumbering economy will doom the re-election hopes of President Barack Obama, who has shown a knack for beating odds and breaking barriers.

Clearly, some important trends are working against him. The latest evidence came Friday in a lackluster jobs report that said the nation's unemployment rate was stuck at 8.2 percent.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the last president to win re-election with so much joblessness. Voters ousted Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush when the jobless rate was well under 8 percent....